Lighthouse

Any autocad experts out there know how to convert GIS data in the following formats into either dxf or dwg to import into CA? I have the data as dbf, qix, shp, and shx file formats. thx

I'm trying to draw an object that is angled in plan and in section. If I draw a PS in plan, I can angle the plan part, but I can't angle it in section. If I draw the PS in elevation, I can angle the section, but not the plan. I have tried using PS, sloped soffits, and ceiling planes. The reason I'm doing this is to create an tapered edge to a roof which is angled in plan. I used a shadow board, but it does not follow the angle of the plan, and just protrudes square off the fascia. So I was going to create the roof edge with a PS, but I encountered the issue above. Simplified test plan is attached. tapered roof edge.zip

Hi, I have a surveyor dwg file with terrain contours, existing house, stone walls, etc. I would like this modeled in Chief first as existing conditions, and then modified for the new design. I need it done in the next day or two. I was planning to do it myself but I'm not great at terrain. I tried to attach dwg, but this file type cannot be attached (I can email it). If you are interested I will send you the files. I don't need plants, etc. just the contours, retaining walls and driveway.

thanks, I copied the lat/long from some website, but I guess they had it wrong. That fixed it (although, strangely, even with the correct coordinates it cast shadows at 5 pm when the sun has already set)

I have followed instructions for plotting the sun angle but getting strange results. I set my north arrow correctly relative to the house and lot. I put in the latitude and longitude for west of Boston MA. I chose Dec 20 2015 at various times of day and it seemed a bit off. To test, I chose 7pm. When I hit "make shadow" it shows a shadow at 7pm (screen shot attached) even though the sun sets at about 4:15pm. How can there be a shadow?

woops- here's an image instead

I called tech support and they said I could turn my terrain into a symbol, and then adjust the elevation. That works! I will post some pics after I finish the model. I'm trying to create a parabolic roof for a contemporary house. I can't figure out a way to do it with roof tools, but I can create a parabola using a terrain perimeter and then change the material to roofing. However, I can't figure out a way to turn the terrain into some kind of object that I could put on top of the building. It appears that you can only create one terrain perimeter per plan, so I can't use the one I created as a roof because I also need to have an actual terrain at the ground level. I've attached a sample plan just of the parabola. It is a square, with two adjacent edges at 100 elevation, and the opposite corner at 200, which creates the dish. Can anyone think of a way to use the terrain perimeter as a roof, or is there any other way in CA to create a dished surface? I need to create about 6 different roof shapes this way on the same plan. (don't ask why :-) ) parabolic roof.zip

the pdf of the layout is attached xxxx-Layout.pdf

I've wasted 2 hours on this one so far-- I sent a 15 page layout to be printed as individual pdf's. 14 of them look fine, one of them the line weights are too light. I have looked at the details that are on that page (that is too light) and they have identical settings to ones on other pages that look fine. I've tried sending it to different layout pages but get the same result- this one page of details seems to print at a different line weight. For the sake of simplicity, I have recreated the problem in a one page layout. I have included the following, in case anyone can take a look at it: The plan (xxxx) that is sent to the layout The layout (xxxx layout) The pdf of the layout. (I can't upload this for some reason so I will upload it in another post) Note: the item shown on the layout is a cad detail called "section 4" in the plan. When section 4 is open, detail #14 in the center of the page was sent to the layout at 1 1/2" scale. I have put some notes on detail 14 indicating the line weight of a couple items and how they appear wrong in the pdf. Thanks much to anyone that can help! xxxx.zip layout.zip

thanks a lot for the replies, I will take the plunge!

I have an older HP Designjet 500 that works fine with windows 7&8. I would like to upgrade to Windows 10 (for other reasons), but am concerned that the printer won't work with 10. I've had bad experiences in the past where I've had to abandon printers after upgrading Windows, as there is no driver support. Does anyone have this plotter, and can you use it with 10? thanks

sometimes called a "hood"

With much help (thanks again) I managed to import topo data into my plan and tweak it to match the new design. Now I'm struggling with curved retaining walls and flat regions. I can't raise my curved retaining walls, and I can't create a compound curved shape (in plan) for my flat parking area. is there a way to turn a polyline into a flat region? How do you adjust the height? Is there a way to simply delete all terrain in a specified area? There are answers to some of these questions in the documentation, but none of the answers seems to work. For example, it says that a curved retaining wall will have a square edit handle to change the height in elevation view, but all I get is diamond handles. It says you can open the flat region dbx to change elevation, but I dont get an elevation tab in the dbx. Anyone know how to do this stuff? Plan is attached and marked up. thx! philip final with smooth siding.zip

thanks to all. I finally got it to work by simply copying the contours and pasting them (unblocked, as they refused to block) into the new plan, without the terrain perimeter, which I created in the new plan. The positioning was insanely hard, but that's another story. Now, if I could just figure out how to raise my curved retaining wall....

I did try it, however when I inserted the new terrain perimeter into my new plan it was a tiny 2" square. So I'm wondering if it didn't come in at the right scale, or didn't copy correctly, or ...

I did all that, and got as far as imported the terrain perimeter and contours. However, the contours don't really fit in the perimeter, which seems odd. Also, the perimeter seems to be a different size that the one in the survey. Was this just a temp perimeter that you created? I have attached the real architectural plan, with your TP and contours on left, the house plan in middle, and a copy of the survey on the right. Could you position the new terrain onto the house plan? I'm happy to pay for this, if it is turning into a pain for you. thx philip final with smooth siding.zip

Right, I know how to move the plan around, but my issue is: Is there a way to take the revised plan that you created (that has the corrected elevation data and looks great) and import that into my architectural plan? As far as I know, I can only import a CAD file, not a chief plan. I tried converting your plan to a dwg. but lost all the elevation data. Were you suggesting that I make the changes on the original cad file and import that? Or is there some way to import the plan that you created?

wow, fantastic, thanks!!! Now even dumber question- how do I import this into my architectural plan (with the buildings, etc)?

I've attached the survey file both zipped and file changed to .txt

woops, I always forget to choose attach- I've put the Chief plan up, but it says I'm not allowed to attach the dwg file

I've watched the tutorial but still not getting this to work. When I import the suvey data, and assign the layer p-explode (the point layer cad blocks exploded) to the chief layer "elevation data", they still have a "0" value under elevation data. So I can't create a terrain because all my points are 0. I have attached a test plan with the survey imported but not layer assignments, and the native CAD survey file. How do I get this elevation data to show in Chief? Thanks!! terrain question.plan SITE PLAN FOR ARCH (8-11-2015).zip SITE PLAN FOR ARCH (8-11-2015) - Copy.txt

Clearly Chief is used by a wide variety of users with varying requirements. And I agree that programs can become burdened with too many features. I assume Chief understands their market and tries to build the features that their users want. Of course the problem is they don't know whether the lack of certain features keeps large market segments from buying the product in the first place. Most people design conventional homes that can be easily drawn in Chief, and maybe that's the end of the story. But the question is how many people out there who do unconventional buildings use Chief and are frustrated, or don't use Chief because it's not a good solid modeler. I don't know the answer, but it might be a question worth asking. Can we take an informal poll? Of course, I'm sure this forum is skewed towards a particular type of user, and therefore the poll would not be perfect, but I'm curious if I'm a one-percenter, or maybe there are more users than we might think that would like these tools?

maybe this is obvious, but I typically draw existing conditions as a plan. Then I save that plan as a new design plan. I make a copy of the existing plan as a cad detail which I put in the new plan as a layer. So I can have the existing plan and the new plan walls occupy the same space because the existing walls are a cad detail. But I'm sure you guys know how to do that. So I assume the problem you are referring to is the inability (using this method) to make changes to the existing conditions plan, because it is now just a cad detail?

It's been really interesting to read all the responses, and I feel less crazy knowing that others would like some of the features I'm looking for. I want to clarify that I agree it makes sense to create a detailed as-buillt model before starting the design of a renovation. I was asking for schematic design modeling tools for massing that would be quicker and more intuitive than what Chief offers now. For massing, it is not critical to work with "walls" and "roofs" which imply a hollow volume. It is quicker to work with solid volumes that can be pushed, pulled, extruded, and cut away. Yes, this could be done in another program, but if it were done in Chief then at least some of the intent and effort could be captured in a conversion to a conventional "hollow" model. For example, I could establish some default characteristics of walls (2x6, sheathing, etc) and roofs. Then I could create a massing model out of solid primitives (in Chief, using the soon to be invented tools) and "convert" it to a hollow model based on the defaults. I think Chief is fast enough with wall creation, but drawing individual roof planes, or defining gablle lines to generate roofs, is too time consuming in the massing stage. I agree with others that polyline solids have the potential to be much more versatile in this respect. An impressive part of the formZ example was the hip roof extrusion created by placing an X on the roof plane and pulling up. CA has always suffered from a bit of a bad reputation as a "builder's" design tool. As a builder I appreciate what's great about the program, and I don't think the criticisms are fair, but the prejudice against pure modeling makes it easier for architects to reject. Chief has matured to the point that it should go head to head against any architectural software. There has been huge emphasis place on photorealism and presentation tools, but not enough on pure design. As Gehry has shown, people are ready for canted walls and parabolic roofs. Why can't Chief go there? Chief would gain broader acceptance by architects if some unusual and cutting edge homes and buildings were created and showcased, rather than just fancy builder houses. Maybe it just the ethos and values of the company- are the lack of modeling tools a technical issue or a cultural one? Is modeling for snobby architects and not practical builders?

Also, re SU- I saw a demo years ago where they took a house photo and pinned it to a primitive object and the object "snapped" to the geometry of the house in the photo. It seemed like an incredibly powerful tool for working with a client on preliminary design where you could photo their house and instantly begin to show design possibilities- has anyone used that?